02 Mar The Time My Friend’s Dog Was MIA at Doggy Daycare

One of my good friends just recently decided to add to her family. She adopted a beautiful little puppy and named him “Louie.” She works full-time, though, and knew little Louie had far too much energy to be cooped up in a crate all day, every day. So, she promptly enrolled him in doggy daycare.

As I came to find out, doggy daycare is just as decked out with all the technological perks as any traditional daycare facility would be—including all-day access to webcams so that curious pet parents can check up on their furry family members throughout the day.

Sadly, though, what usually was fun and comforting, brought fear and growing concern for my friend. Despite checking the webcam repeatedly, lil’ Louie was nowhere to be found. It was as if he’d gone completely MIA. After all, where in the world could he have snuck off to?

A quick phone solved the mystery: Little Louie had been placed in time-out—and I quote—”for mounting other dogs.”

Needless to say, this was not what my friend had expected to hear. Not her little Louie! But she took it in good humor.

“That’s one way to make friends?!” she said.

Poor lil’ Louie! He just wasn’t able to control his natural urges. But we can take a tip from his trip to time out.

Self-control—while not easy—is important for all of us. It’s what enables us to move beyond what we simply want to do to what is good, wise and beneficial for us. But honestly, there’s another even more practical benefit: Self-control prevents us from becoming a victim—victim to our circumstances, victim to chaos around us, victim to—yes—even ourselves.

Have you ever felt so overcome with emotion that you could barely even think—let alone make any kind of decision? You’re not alone. We’ve all felt this way at one time or another. But self-control is what enables us to pull ourselves out of our emotional mess, so that we can see a bigger, clearer picture based on reality and not just how we may be feeling at the moment.

It remains to be seen if lil’ Louie will be spending less time in time out. But all of us can benefit from time outs, too.

We can give ourselves permission to not react immediately. Seldom is an answer, reply or action required right away anyway. So, go ahead. Choose to act on this truth—and not how you may feel at any given moment.

Need a gentle reminder? The next time you’re tempted to follow through on a knee-jerk reaction. Think of lil’ Louie and his paws trying to stay still in time out. Then, let that remind you to take a breath and pause, too.